Mother Teresa, a nun who dedicated her life to helping the poor in India, will be canonized as a saint September 4, Pope Francis announced Tuesday.

The date falls on the eve of the anniversary of her death, which occurred on September 5, 1997.

In December, Pope Francis announced that Mother Teresa would be declared a saint after recognizing a second miracle attributed to her: the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors after loved ones prayed to her, the Italian Catholic bishops’ association’s official newspaper Avvenire reported. That miracle occurred after her death.

A 30-year-old woman in Kolkata said she was cured of a stomach tumor after praying to Mother Teresa. A Vatican committee said it could find no scientific explanation for her healing and declared it a miracle.

Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in Albania and baptized Gonxha Agnes, the Vatican said in her biography.

At age 18, she joined an Irish convent, where she received the name Sister Mary Teresa. Months later, she left for India, landing in Kolkata, the city then known as Calcutta, in January 1929. She taught at St. Mary’s School for girls.

There, she took her Final Profession of Vows and became Mother Teresa. Nearly 20 years later, during a train ride in India, she felt a calling from Jesus to care for the poor, her Vatican biography said. She established Missionaries of Charity to serve the poorest of all.

In 1948, she donned her iconic white sari with blue trim for the first time and walked out of her convent to start her life caring for the poor. She washed the wounded, cared for the sick and dying, and some of her former students joined her over time. She spread her work throughout India.

Pope John Paul II waived the requirement of waiting five years after a person’s death to pursue the path to sainthood and opened Mother Teresa’s Cause of Canonization less than two years after her death.

Advance Tax means that you are required to pay tax to the government on your income throughout the year as you earn this Income.

Who is it applicable for? If in a financial year your total tax liability exceeds Rs 10,000 you will be required to pay Advance Tax. Do remember to include all heads of income calculating Advance Tax.

Senior citizens, those who are 60 years or older and do not run a business, are exempt from paying advance tax.

Let us point out Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) as a concept. When you receive any income (your salary, Interest Income), many a times, the person paying you will deduct TDS before paying you. If the TDS deducted is more than your tax due, then you may not have to pay advance tax.

Salaried Employees: If you work at a company and earn a salary, your employer is going to deduct TDS on salary. So you don’t have to deal with advance tax.

However, if you have Interest Income from Fixed Deposits, etc which is more than Rs. 50,000, you should calculate your tax due as you may have to pay advance tax. This trips a lot of people over as they do not know they are liable for advance tax!

Freelancers: Freelancers almost always have advance tax due. This is because when freelancers get paid, TDS deducted by the person paying the freelancer is usually not enough!

Here’s how you can calculate your Advance Tax:

Estimate your Freelancing Income: Add the expected income from your clients. If you have ongoing agreements which lay out payment terms, use those for estimating your income.

Subtract Expenses: From this income, you are allowed to reduce expenses which are directly related to the freelancing work. Rent of your workplace, internet, telephone costs, depreciation on computers, travel expenses etc. Read more here: Income and Expenses of a Freelancer

Add up all other Income: Add expected income from other heads like House Property, Interest Income, etc. Apply the latest Income Tax Rates to calculate your tax due. Do remember to reduce any TDS that may have been deducted from your Income.

If the remaining Tax Due exceeds Rs 10,000, you are required to pay Advance Tax as per the due dates mentioned below.

Due Dates of payment of Advance Tax:

For Individuals

On or before 15th June

–

On or before 15th September

Up to 30% of advance tax payable

On or before 15th December

Up to 60% of advance tax payable

On or before 15th March

Up to 100% of advance tax payable

Note that you are not required to submit any supporting documents while paying your advance tax. In case some of your expected income or expenses have undergone a change, you can always re-estimate your income and adjust payments accordingly, before paying the next installment.

How to pay Advance Tax? Here’s how you can pay your advance tax to the government Pay Advance Tax.

In case due to some reason you are unable to pay Advance Tax note that Interest under Section 234B and Section 234C may become applicable.

(a) on or after the 26th day of January,1950, but before the 1st day of July, 1987;
(b) on or after the 1st day of July, 1987, but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 and either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth;
(c) on or after the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, where-(i) both of his parents are citizens of India; or
(ii) one of whose parents is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of his birth, shall be a citizen of India by birth.

A person shall not be a citizen of India by virtue of this section if at the time of his birth-(a) either his father or mother possesses such immunity from suits and legal process as is accorded to an envoy of a foreign sovereign power accredited to the President of India and he or she, as the case may be, is not a citizen of India;(b) his father or mother is an enemy alien and the birth occurs in a place then under occupation by the enemy.

Citizenship by descent.– (1) A person born outside India shall be a citizen of India by descent,-(a) on or after the 26th day of January, 1950, but before the 10th day of December, 1992, if his father is a citizen of India at the time of his birth; or(b) on or after the 10th day of December,1992, if either of his parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth:Provided that if the father of a person referred to in clause (a) was a citizen of India by descent only, that person shall not be a citizen of India by virtue of this section unless-

(a) his birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year of its occurrence or the commencement of this Act, whichever is later, or, with the permission of the Central Government, after the expiry of the said period; or

(b) his father is, at the time of his birth, in service under a Government in India:

Provided further that if either of the parents of a person referred to in clause (b) was a citizen of India by descent only, that person shall not be a citizen of India by virtue of this section unless-

(a) his birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year of its occurrence or on or after the 10th day of December, 1992, whichever is later, or, with the permission of the Central Government, after the expiry of the said period; or

(b) either of his parents is, at the time of his birth, in service under a Government of India:

Provided also that on or after the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, a person shall not be a citizen of India by virtue of this section, unless his birth is registered at an Indian consulate in such form and in such manner, as may be prescribed,-

(i) within one year of its occurrence or the commencement of the citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, whichever is later; or

(ii) with the permission of the Central Government, after the expiry of the said period:

Provided also that no such birth shall be registered unless the parents of such person declare, in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed, that the minor does not hold the passport of another country.

(1A) A minor who is a citizen of India by virtue of his section and is also a citizen of any other country shall cease to be a citizen of India if he does not renounce the citizenship or nationality of another country within six months of attaining full age.

(2) If the Central Government so directs, a birth shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been registered with its permission, notwithstanding that its permission was not obtained before the registration.

(3) For the purposes of the proviso to sub-section (1), any male person born outside undivided India who was, or was deemed to be, a citizen of India at the commencement of the Constitution shall be deemed to be a citizen of India by descent only.

Citizenship by registration.- (1) Subject to the provisions of this section and such other conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed, the Central Government may, on an application made in this behalf, register as a citizen of India any person not being an illegal migrant who is not already such citizen by virtue of the Constitution or of any other provision of this Act if he belongs to any of the following categories, namely:

(a) a person of Indian origin who are ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration;

(b) a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in any country or place outside undivided India;

(c) a person who is married to a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration.

(d) minor children of persons who are citizens of India;

(e) a person of full age and capacity whose parents are registered as citizens of India under clause (a) of this sub-section or sub-section (1) of section 6;

(f) a person of full age and capacity who, or either of his parents, was earlier citizen of independent India, and has been residing in India for one year immediately before making an application for registration;

(g) a person of full age and capacity who has been registered as an overseas citizen of India for five years, and who has been residing in India for one year before making an application for registration.

Citizenship by naturalization.– (1) Where an application is made in the prescribed manner by any person of full age and capacity not being an illegal migrant for the grant of a certificate of naturalization to him, the Central Government may, if satisfied that the applicant is qualified for naturalization under the provisions of the Third Schedule, grant to him a certificate of naturalization:

Provided that, if in the opinion of the Central Government, the applicant is a person who has rendered distinguished service to the cause of science, philosophy, art, literature, world peace or human progress generally, it may waive all or any of the conditions specified in the Third Schedule.

(2) The person to whom a certificate of naturalization is granted under sub-section (1) shall, on taking the oath of allegiance in the form specified in the Second Schedule, be a citizen of India by naturalization as from the date on which that certificate is granted.

Termination of citizenship.- (1) Any citizen of India who by naturalization, registration otherwise voluntarily acquires, or has at any time between the 26th January, 1950 and the commencement of this Act, voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country shall, upon such acquisition or, as the case may be, such commencement, cease to be a citizen of India:

Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to a citizen of India who, during any war in which India may be engaged, voluntarily acquires, the citizenship of another country, until the Central Government otherwise directs.

(2) If any question arises as to whether, when or how any citizen of India has acquired the citizenship of another country, it shall be determined by such authority, in such manner, and having regard to such rules of evidence, as may be prescribed in this behalf.

Offences.- Any person who, for the purpose of procuring anything to be done or not to be done under this Act, knowingly makes any representation which is false in a material particular shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees, or with both.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has some explaining to do to Parliament, on why some documents pertaining to a British company list him as a UK national.

On Monday, the Ethics Committee of Parliament served him a show-cause notice, asking him to confirm if he had declared himself as a British citizen during his stay in the UK. BJP veteran LK Advani heads the Ethics Committee.

In response to the notice, Rahul Gandhi reacted with a terse, “We’ll deal with that.”

Here’s a time-line of how the controversy unfolded:

November 2015

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy wrote to PM Narendra Modi demanding that the government should strip Rahul Gandhi’s Indian citizenship and parliamentary membership while alleging that he declared himself a British citizen in order to float a private firm in the UK.

In a letter dated November 12, 2015 to the PM, Swamy said, “I am enclosing with this letter some authenticated documents regarding the registration in 2003 and dissolution in 2009 of a Private Ltd. Company in United Kingdom with an address located in London. The name of the company is BACKOPS Limited and the Director and Secretary of this company was Mr. Rahul Gandhi, presently Lok Sabha MP. The incorporation papers of this company No. 4874597 was filed with the Registrar of Companies in England and Wales on August 21, 2003 and the dissolution was on February 17, 2009. Hence I urge you to treat this matter with great urgency and immediately take necessary steps to see if this prima facie evidence is rebuttable, and if not, order that Mr. Rahul Gandhi be stripped of his citizenship, and his membership of the Lok Sabha, forthwith.”

While Rahul has been declared as an Indian in company documents and other annual returns, he has been mentioned as ‘’British’’ with a UK residential address for the returns of 2005, 2006 and 2009.

A defensive Congress admitted in November that it could have been a “typographical” error by an accountant in charge of filing returns. It said, “if somebody has committed an error while uploading, it can be corrected. It is correctable”.

On November 30, 2015, the Supreme Court had struck down a PIL which had sought CBI investigation into the citizenship of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The court had noted that PIL pleas were a medium to alleviate human suffering through good governance and were not meant to target an individual or organization.

January 2016

In January, BJP’s Delhi MP Maheish Girri had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan saying, “Many contradictory facts against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi have come up. There is a big mystery over his citizenship now. If he is a citizen of two countries, then it’s a matter of serious concern. It is very important to clear the speculations hovering”.

So, what are the facts?

A perusal of UK’s Companies House records reveals three versions with respect to his nationality: some records relating to Rahul Gandhi’s company, Backops Limited, show him to be a British national; some other records of the company show him as an Indian national; and a third record shows him as British but with a dubious handwriting change with the word ‘’British’’ being scratched out and replaced by ‘’Indian”.

The Companies House has not been available for comment on the existence of these three different records containing discrepancies.

“Hiding details about the nationality of directors is a fraudulent activity, most probably punishable by a fine”, said Raj Ruparelia, Principal at Bassetts Chartered Accountants. “Though there are no obvious tax advantages either for the British or Indian company directors. Perhaps some prospective investors and shareholders might be more inclined to invest in a company that is owned by the British directors. But there is evidence here that one of the directors was aware of this discrepancy and was trying to amend it,” he said.

With the simultaneous existence of three records of differing nationality in relation to his company Backops, Rahul Gandhi seems to be on a sticky wicket and it remains to be seen which way this whole issue pans out.

Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimages of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river. It is the world’s largest religious gathering. It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation: Haridwar, Allahabad (Prayag), Nasik and Ujjain. Thus the Kumbh Mela is held at each of these four places every twelfth year. Ardh (“Half”) Kumbh Mela is held at only two places, Hardwar and Allahabad, every sixth year. The rivers at these four places are: the Ganges (Ganga) at Haridwar, the confluence (Sangam) of the Ganges and the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Allahabad, the Godawari at Ujjain, and the Shipra at Ujjain.

Legend has it that in the mythological times, during a waging war between the demigods and demons for the possession of elixir of eternal life, a few drops of it had fallen on to four places that are today known as Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nasik. It is believed that these drops gave mystical powers to these places. It is to make oneself gain on those powers that Kumbh Mela has been celebrated in each of the four places since long as one can remember. The normal Kumbh Mela is held every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is held every six years at Haridwar and Allahabad (Prayag) while the Purna (complete) Kumbh mela takes place every twelve years, at four places Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik, based on planetary movements. The Maha Kumbh Mela is celebrated at Prayag after 144 years (after 12 ‘Purna Kumbh Melas’).

Depending on what position the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter hold in that period in different zodiac signs, the venue for Kumbh Mela is decided.

Kumbh Mela at Allahabad
when Jupiter is in Aries or Taurus and Sun and Moon are in Capricorn during the Hindu month of Magha (January-February).

Kumbh Mela at Haridwar
when Jupiter is in Aquarius and Sun is in Aries during the Hindu month of Chaitra (March-April).

Kumbh Mela at Ujjain
when Jupiter is in Leo and Sun is in Aries, or when all three are in Libra during the Hindu month of Vaisakha (April-May).

Kumbh Mela at Nasik
when Sun and Jupiter are in Leo during the Hindu month of Bhadraprada (August-September).

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living will celebrate 35 years of service to humanity, spirituality and human values by organising a 3-day mega cultural event – World Culture Festival 2016 (from March 11 to 12, 2016) – in Delhi.

The event aims at spreading the ethos of ‘VasudhaivaKutumbakam’ – ‘The World is one Family’ by laying an emphasis on peaceful co-existence.

The event will demonstrate the power of peace by bringing 3.5 million people from around the world together.

Varied cultures from across the globe will unite to be part of the music and arts platform spread over an area of 7 acres.

Over 37,000 artists are expected to perform at the festival which includes 8,000 musicians playing 40 instruments in a Musical Symphony, 650 drummers from South Africa and several tribal artists from Indian states such as Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Sikkim and others.

“With the World Culture Festival, we hope to foster deeper understanding between people of different faiths, nationalities and backgrounds. By showcasing rich cultural traditions of dance, music and art from around the world as well as Yoga, this festival will be a unique platform for spiritual and religious gurus, politicians, peacemakers and artists to spread the message of global peace and harmony in diversity,” Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, The Art of Living, said.

Chairman of the World Culture Festival Organizing Committee and VVKI trust, Commodore Sarvotham Rao, said, “The World Culture Festival will be a one-of-its-kind experience which will have a majestic gathering of 3.5 million people where everyone will unite as one big family. The festival aims to bring to the forefront age-old values and traditions that are today, fast disappearing. Thousands of years old heritage of yoga and Ayurveda will play a central role in the festival through performances, information booths and ‘join-in’ sessions.”

A very special highlight of the festival will be a ‘Peace meditation’ led by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar which will be held on all three days of the festival.

Here are the highlights:

• Over 33,000 people will perform at the festival in 3 days

• In the Grand Musical Symphony 40 instruments will be played together

• The Global Leadership Forum, co-hosted by the World Forum of Ethics in Business and The Art of Living Foundation in New Delhi on the 12th and 13th March 2016 will bring together senior leaders from business, government, politics, science, NGOs, faith-based organizations, sports, academia and media to reflect on the paradigms of leadership needed to manoeuvre the world of today

• World’s largest stage-WCF will witness the world’s largest stage set up over an area of 7 acres. This will be an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the ‘Largest temporary stage’ in the world

• Size of the venue- The total area of the venue would cover 1000 acres

• More than 20,000 international guests are expected. Sizable contingents from South America, Mongolia, Russia, U.S., Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Pakistan among others.

• Revival of tribal art forms – WCF will revive some of the tribal art forms from India from states such as Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Sikkim among others

• World’s largest Peace meditation- This will be the first time in the world that 3.5 million people will meditate for world peace on all three days at one physical location. Millions will also participate virtually

Within these industries, chemical engineers rely on their knowledge of mathematics and science—particularly chemistry— to overcome technical problems safely and economically. And, of course, they draw upon and apply their engineering knowledge to solve any technical challenges they encounter. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that chemical engineers only “make things,” though. Their expertise is also applied in the areas of law, education, publishing, finance, and medicine, as well as in many other fields that require technical training.

Specifically, chemical engineers improve food processing techniques, and methods of producing fertilizers, to increase the quantity and quality of available food.

They also construct the synthetic fibers that make our clothes more comfortable and water resistant; they develop methods to mass-produce drugs, making them more affordable; and they create safer, more efficient methods of refining petroleum products, making energy and chemical sources more productive and cost effective.

Chemical engineers also develop solutions to environmental problems, such as pollution control and remediation.

And yes, they process chemicals, which are used to make or improve just about everything you see around you.

Chemical engineers face many of the same challenges that other professionals face, and they meet these challenges by applying their technical knowledge, communication and teamwork skills; the most up-to-date practices available; and hard work. Benefits include financial reward, recognition within industry and society, and the gratification that comes from working with the processes of nature to meet the needs of society.

Civil engineering is arguably the oldest engineering discipline. It deals with the built environment and can be dated to the first time someone placed a roof over his or her head or laid a tree trunk across a river to make it easier to get across.

The built environment encompasses much of what defines modern civilization. Buildings and bridges are often the first constructions that come to mind, as they are the most conspicuous creations of structural engineering, one of civil engineering’s major sub-disciplines. Roads, railroads, subway systems, and airports are designed by transportation engineers, another category of civil engineering. And then there are the less visible creations of civil engineers. Every time you open a water faucet, you expect water to come out, without thinking that civil engineers made it possible. New York City has one of the world’s most impressive water supply systems, receiving billions of gallons of high-quality water from the Catskills over one hundred miles away. Similarly, not many people seem to worry about what happens to the water after it has served its purposes. The old civil engineering discipline of sanitary engineering has evolved into modern environmental engineering of such significance that most academic departments have changed their names to civil and environmental engineering.

These few examples illustrate that civil engineers do a lot more than design buildings and bridges. They can be found in the aerospace industry, designing jetliners and space stations; in the automotive industry, perfecting the load-carrying capacity of a chassis and improving the crashworthiness of bumpers and doors; and they can be found in the ship building industry, the power industry, and many other industries wherever constructed facilities are involved. And they plan and oversee the construction of these facilities as construction managers.

Civil engineering is an exciting profession because at the end of the day you can see the results of your work, whether this is a completed bridge, a high-rise building, a subway station, or a hydroelectric dam.

Please look at the Web pages of our individual faculty members to learn more about their special interests as examples of what civil engineering and engineering mechanics is and can be about.